Everyone needs a marketing eye

Marketing Eye Blog Entries

Shape your future

That’s what strategy is all about. Your business strategy is about shaping the future of your business. It’s a combination of thinking, planning and reacting to events that happen along the way. The key questions you need to answer:

What do we want to do?

What do we think is possible?

What do we need to do to achieve our goals?

When should we react to new opportunities and adapt plans?

What do we want to do?

Really what do you desire for your business short term and long term. Some business owners are very precise and some are ambiguous. Talk to everyone in the business and get their opinions – it will help shape yours.

What do we think is possible?

This is the practicality coming into play. Look at the opportunities out there and contrast them with the resources you have or could realistically get. Don’t close down all the ideas though – it’s important to look at what is possible compared to what has been done in the past – technology and consumer trends are always creating new opportunities.

What do we need to do to achieve our goals?

Do we need to change structures and processes in the business? Do we need to change or adapt our products and services? Do roles need to change? Do we need funding?

When should we react to new opportunities and adapt plans?

When we write plans, we don’t really know what’s going to happen next – we don’t have crystal balls unfortunately. Small and big events happen that will challenge our strategy. New and big opportunities will arise as will threats that weren’t foreseen. So be ready to adapt.